A small well stocked bookstore. The store is located in the San Francisco airport. It carried obviously books, magnets, greeting cards, and a few small souvenirs. San Francisco was my homebase at one time . It was very nostalgic to see some of the books they had on the neighborhoods of San Francisco. read more

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In this day and age, a honest to goodness bookstore is always a refreshing find. Prices are in line with what you would find on the outside, in general, decent selection of new releases and other books, and a friendly staff to help if you need it. Simply fun to browse and see what is still out there in print read more

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Five stars for one simple reason: They have books on sale. I'll say that again, SALE! And they are some good books! Books one might actually be able to get lost within. And getting lost in a book when you are traveling can be an amazing thing. I cannot recall ever walking into an airport bookstore and not finding full priced books. Here I found two full tables of books priced under ten dollars. There were two or three Palahniuk books, several classics, and a score of other authors I recognized and would have been happy to read. (I, of course, had three books in my bag, and several more on my Nook). There were even books in Spanish! There were lots of new releases for full price and a great selection of genres. Basically, a little something for everyone. Young adults, children, and bestsellers. There was a section with journals. read more

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Nice book store with a good selection. Friendly staff. This is an airport location. Still not comfortable handling books in a bookstore without some requirement for customers use hand sanitizer. read more

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Stellar bookstore in the airport. This the West's oldest Independent bookstore on Turtle Island. This airport bookstore could easily stand as a superb bookstore in any town in the US. Smart selection. Am sure you can find something interesting if here. Recommended for book lovers! read more

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Made me very uncomfortable. I selected to not donate/round up to the charity suggested at the cash register. The clerk was continuing to ask and I had to tell him no multiple times. Each time he asked his tone was less friendly. read more

I travel to and from SFO often, and this Compass Books location is a regular stop for me during my travels... I typically stop in on my way back to PHX, as it's always a good place to spend a few minutes looking around when I have time to spare before my flight. Selection isn't earth shattering by any means, but if you're looking for cute cards, stationary or gifts, or books of course, you're sure to find something here. The staff isn't overly friendly, but they are pleasant enough and don't seem to mind people lingering to read a magazine or book before purchasing (or not). On my most recent stop-in last month, I purchased a handful of children's books for my kids and on previous trips, I've purchased little notebooks and cards. Prices are not cheap but they are reasonable vs. what you'll find outside of the airport. read more

I really get my rocks off perusing the stacks at airport bookstores. Something about not feeling as rushed as usual, uncovering the latest best sellers and development books, crossing my fingers for a clearance section and catching up on what all the cool kids are reading these days. Compass Books is an exceptional airport bookstore and it appeared that others would agree because they were fairly busy during my visit and offered a decent-sized discount book section. Larger than you typically find in airports with books starting out as low as $6. During my ten minute visit I discovered sooo many books and gifts that I would love to buy - I feel like I visit a fair number of bookstores and this one nailed it at offering fun and fresh titles and gifts. The space was also well organized and easy to navigate with sections being clearly labeled (travel, kids, cooking, magazines, development, etc.). read more

I always like having magazines to read when on a plane. The roommate and I were flying to Miami, so I decided to stop by Compass Books on Saturday, September 2nd around 9:30pm to browse. They had a pretty good selection of magazines. I ended up getting a Travel & Leisure, a San Francisco, and a Glamour magazine. I guess each one appealed to a different side of me. The travel one, the inner fattie one, and the shopping one. I believe prices charged are the ones on the magazine, so unless I made my way to a store that provides discounts on the listed prices, I didn't pay any more. Check out was fast and easy. Our cashier was very nice. Convenient if you're flying out of Terminal 2 and need some last minute reading material. read more

This bookstore is unlike any airport bookstore I've seen before. Just speaking to the card selection, I think the selection and quality of the cards is better than many bookstores or stationary stores that I've seen inside of airports. Killing time, I was able to pick up four very tasteful, pretty, and high-quality cards that I will use on my trip. I wish I could've spent more time here, but I noticed some fun novelty items like funny socks. The store seems like a great one to get last-minute gifts. read more

I remember the first time I walked by this place back in the Summer of 2017. I was about to embark on a plane to Las Vegas, Nevada all by myself fo the very first time.I got the feeling that I was home. I used to love going to book stores back in the late 90s, while I was in high school! Knowledge is, definitely, power! The terminal used to be for Virgin Airlines. One entire terminal all for Virgin Air. Now, of course, it's owned by Alaska Airlines. read more

Excellent selection of books ranging from fiction to toddler, young children books! Has travel books too including local travel like San Francisco! Books are not necessarily cheap but good to have especially if you are a savvy traveler! read more

Compass Books - Children books - Bookstores Near Me - San Francisco, California

A relative of our favorite Books Inc, they have a great selection and awesome prices, with a lot of discount quality books. The fact that there's one in the airport is even greater! Not only books but great selection of toys as well, read more

With some time to spare before a flight back to the nation's capital, I plopped myself down in the travel section to look over their Central American offerings. Nothing earth shattering here in terms of selection but no one bothered me as I browsed and the bloke who rang me up was exceedingly friendly. read more

One of my usual SFO haunts, Compass Books has been my mini airport oasis for all sorts of reasons. Rather than going to a convenience store and reading an overpriced magazine, I am certain to score better reading material here from a decent collection of best sellers to no namers. There is the element of killing time, but I should note how many times Compass Books has been a perfect gift spot for last minute ordeals. From greeting cards to small accessories, I've been able to find a decent selection of stuff that I wouldn't find anywhere else in the airport. It won't replace one's usual bookstore, even the chain ones. The condensed sections here make specialty books less likely to be featured but at least it is big enough to keep most folks occupied. The nice folks at the counter make for a nice addition to the experience and have been great at recommending stuff for random occasions. Lastly, they haven't given me any grief for sitting down and reading one of their books. The true mark of a bookstore, they score very high for yours truly. read more

For an airport bookstore you can't get much better than this. They are somehow related to Books Inc which you can find in the city. This place has a decent selection of titles and a suprisingly good selection of discounted books. When I get off the plane before I get my luggage and as I arrive in the terminal for my flight this is the stop I make. The folks working there are quite helpful. read more

Compass Books is a way station for many a traveler. Their sale books have reasonable prices, and they have friendly service. There's a mind-boggling assortment of magazines. A copy of http://vegnews.com once tided me through a traffic jam by AT&T Park. They have plenty of reading material to sustain the mind&spirit. I saw that they the movie tie-in book for http://www.stevejobsthefilm.com with the tiny sticker "The Book that inspired the motion picture"... and, caveat emptor, it has a picture of the Apple cofounder on the Walter Isaacson bio rather than the sexy Michael Fassbender. Just saying. At least the latest Nicholas Sparks romance novels have the leading couples on their covers, along with Eddie Redmayne on the cover of "Danish Girl." Compass Books is a fun place to spend time. read more

***Walking through Compass Books (at SFO) was kind of nostalgic given how there just does not seem to be many bookstore-only places in airports anymore; this store seems to have a decent variety of books and magazines though there is not much in terms of refreshments or food; some nice and small but slightly overpriced stuffed animals are also available*** I am not sure what the parking situation at SFO is, but I imagine it is expensive like other airports. This bookstore is within the United terminal so it is only open for airline travelers. read more

This bookstore, located smartly and conveniently in the SF airport, is a member of the Books Inc. family. Unfortunately it is that somewhat annoying second cousin who spits food when he talks and makes inappropriate comments to your kid sister. I finally came in here, after passing by several times, while wandering the halls of the airport and thinking to myself "What the fuck am I doing working in an airport? Does anything, including a bottle of water, cost less that $5 because clearly anyone with a retail airport job cannot afford to drink their daily 64 ounces of water on minimum wage. I wonder what will distract me from these thoughts and my impending dehydration.", and there it was, that bookstore I was wondering about, ready to distract me in ways only a bookstore can. Sadly the employee recommendations and featured books were about as cookie cutter as that large suburban development that Buffy and Biff just moved into. The markdown table, while stocked with items cheaper than my daily allotment of water, seemed to be the castoffs of the clearance tables at the various locations of this stores parent company. Castoffs of castoffs. Wow. This place is better than the typical gum, tacky souvenir and candy bar magazine stand you usually see in an airport. You know, the kind that has a huge selection of Koonz, King, Steele and enough self help books to make you think you might not want to get on the plane with all of the crazy travelers scooping them up. Five stars for having 1000 times more books worth reading than your typical airport "bookstore". Minus two for hiding them behind recommendation cards that will have you running for the self help books at that other place. read more

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx Of all of my friends, how many have been books? If I were to review a list of people I know, and books I have loved, how many of the former would I rank as less enjoyable than the latter? Of all the people I have met, how many have known me for as long as I have known Hazel and Bigwig, Gimli and Legolas, Robinson Crusoe? The island of imagination is a blessing and a curse. And for every detached, socially-awkward child who finds respite from the hostile world in a realm of fantasy, there is another who dwells too long on those foreign shores and finds the doubled-edge of escapism: the ability to imagine a totally different life creates a dangerous siren song of "what if" that can never be sated, and occasionally cannot be ignored. At the end of the day, is it not possible that the overly developed imagination is not ultimately a source only of agony? That the developed talent for envisioning an alternate reality leads the dreamer to succumb to the dreams? And what value does the world truly place on imagination anyway? Any place named "Compass Books" must eventually admit that the great masses would rather have their ship steered by the individual who can take them directly from point A to point B, rather than the individual who can imagine the hundreds of adventures that could be launched en route. And, even then, the notion of a "compass," a device endlessly compelled in but a single direction, fails to adequately describe the conundrum faced by the overly bookish, who find an infinity of divergent paths placed before them on a daily basis, the quantity and quality of which are limited only by their ability to conceptualize the possibilities. It is akin to piloting the ship, not by the compass, but by the weathervane, which is subject to adjustment at the slightest whim of the winds. SO, what end to this wandering tale? I can't dream it for you. You must pick the genre, from a panoply of worthy options: fiction and nonfiction, fantasy, historical, romance, horror, drama, bestsellers and pulp. You might overpay, but everything in life comes with a price, and if you can't properly tender, you shouldn't embark in the first place. You may think you're walking away with a neatly-wrapped package, in bright and perpetual plastic, but even if the knot inside is not visibly wreathing, anyone well-versed would know life is never that easy. And if all if this seems impossibly dense, then let me merely say that I surpassed the mighty 500 and said nothing, a lapse that can scarcely be expected to last. And if you stumbled upon this looking merely for a bookstore in the airport, let me say: buy a copy of Outside, and a copy of GQ, and read them cover-to-cover, and don't talk to me when I have my Ipod headphones in, because this is a clear signal that I have decided not to share my aeroplane trip with you. In the emotional, rather than physical, sense. I have a weathervane to spin, and whatever direction it ends up in is the place I'm going today, and not everyone can join me, but perhaps I'll send you a postcard. read more

Compass Books is a literary oasis in the midst of cattle car airport chaos. I stop here going both ways (home and away) as this is a nice book shop on its own. Plus, I'm always on the lookout for something to read, especially newspapers, magazines, a travel guide for a future journey, or a thoughtful card for Gayle. read more

Love the book selection and book reviews to help you choose a book. Also there are games and other interesting knickknacks.

It was the holiday season and I missed my flight. Little did I know I was going to spend the next 12 hours at San Francisco International Airport's north terminal. After doing everything such as make phone calls, get a drink, scope out the best places to sit, I finally wandered the stores in search of something to pass the time. Compass Books was like an oasis in the desert. Sure, every international airport these days has a place that sells books. But Compass is a REAL bookstore. Beyond the bestselling romances and action thrillers, the children's activity books and Sudoku puzzles, Compass carries classics, literature, respected authors. In other words, books you actually want to read. Everything was organized and easy to find. And the staff was helpful, too. Stop by here to pick up a good read before your next flight. Or to browse through the selection and happily pass an hour or two. read more

I might be a tad overenthusiastic, but if you love books and travel a lot you go through airport after airport and see the same book & magazine stands over and over again, a place like Compass Books will make you jump up and down in excitement (if only that didn't draw attention from the nearby TSA folks...) No pressure to buy (and by pressure I mean clerks staring you down as you try to kill some time before getting to your next gate). Compass Books is an oasis of reading in the typical airport hubbub - if you've got a few hours to spare while waiting for a flight, check this place out. The staff recommendations are pretty standard fare, but there is so much more variety here than the other airport newsstands and their Top 20 books. read more

So glad they're here! Everytime I fly I stop here, sometimes twice in the same day. The selection is amazing, such depth and interesting titles on offer. Plus they've got toys and magazines and newspapers and a lot of stuff. The staff are great, always helpful, even when the place is jammed. Come check it out! Enjoy! read more

One of the best airport bookstores in the country; even if you took it outside of the airport, it would still be fantastic. They have such a great selection of books and everything is well organized. They have the best selection of greeting cards, lots from San Francisco -- letterpressed, and other great designs. If you're looking for a gift for someone, you can find different bags, coloring books, etc and other really cute things. They also carry charging cables and headphones, which was a Godsend when I forgot my charging cable for my phone before a 20 hour trip. Don't go to inMOTION a few stores down, and get your cable here. It's probably a 20-25% markup, but not as bad as a 100% markup like other places. I was able to get a decent charging cable for $14. All in all, a wonderful place to find something to read on your trip, and everything is well organized and pleasing to browse. Will definitely be back! read more

I was recently stuck at SFO for around 8 hours due to American Airlines' typical incompetence, and this place really saved my sanity. Needing a good book to pass the time with I wandered in here and was pleased with what I found. The selection is quite a bit better than what you'd normally have at an airport bookstore, and I ended up finding a good book to make the unending hell that is flying on American a bit more tolerable. read more

Nice selection, convenient location. I got into the habit of picking up a book for every trip!

I love that this bookstore is one of the first stores after security (United terminal). After righting myself from the indignities of security check, it's nice to get to Compass for a book or magazine for the upcoming trip. Unlike the other newstands-cum-convenience stores throughout the terminal, Compass is -- hallelujah -- a full-fledged bookstore with a huge selection of fiction, nonfiction, various periodicals and smaller areas for food, health, history, gifts, cards, games, etc. A recent purchase: _The Geography of Bliss: One Grumps Search for the Happiest Places in the World_. They appear to have less room for features like Staff Picks and other recommendations -- the fiction section tends to have just book after book after book lined up side by side, so it could be a bit difficult to discover your next great read unless you already have a selection in mind... nonetheless, I'm glad that Compass Books exists at SFO. read more

What a bookstore! I was pleasantly surprised that it was not your average everyday airport bookstore. The selection is extensive, including staff recommendations. Was able to purchase a signed first edition of a newly released book. Extremely excited! Truly great discovery! read more

Since I had some time to kill before the fight to Redding, this bookshop was the perfect place, to browse around and kill time. This bookshop is medium sized and sells. Fiction and non fiction, autobiographies, bookmarks, cook books, magazines, San Fran souvenirs and other stuff I cant remember. I bought two books for my friends and a San Fran calender 2011 for moi. I recently gave those books to my friends and the absolutely loved it and I knew these particular books you cant get in London. So Compass they loved ya! I love ya! and when next time I go San Francisco I'm defiantly checking for you again, :) read more

Unlike all the airport bookstores I've seen before, this one actually has a great selection of books. Souvenirs and cards are also unexpectedly nice. read more

A autographed book from Neil Tyson and a diverse science section in an airport bookstore. I'm impressed! read more

Compass Books - Bookstores Near Me - San Francisco, California

This place was my saving grace when I showed up way too early for my flight at SFO. Not too satisfied with the magazines I brought with me, and having a few hours to kill, I walked into the book store. After browsing for a few minutes, I realized that Compass Books is an legitimate bookstore owned by my fav. local book store, Books Inc, and not just a magazine stand. I spent 45 mins cruising through the store and picked up several great books and magazines for my mini vaca. read more

Another Terminal 2 @ San Francisco Airport gem! This refined bookstore is stocked with everything one might want to read. For this example, me, it has classic fiction in most recent press, a great selection of graphic novels, countless magazines, children's books, doohickies and what not. A personal touch is added with a wide range of employee recommendations. One could spend hours in here before a flight. I don't even have a bookstore like this within fifty miles of my home! read more

Magazine collections was spotty for an airport. For being in an airport, I personally look for more periodocals than I do hardback books. The other thing that annoyed me was the fact that they carried books for children and porn magazines. But zero magazines regarding firearms. What a skewed sense of political activitism. Then again this was in San Francisco airport, I should have expected such liberal nuttiness. read more

I was looking for a specific book (I got 1/2 way through then I lost it) and wanted to finish it on the plane. I called in the morning and they didn't have it in stock. Christine found it at one of their other locations and had it transferred over so I could pick it up in terminal 2 before my evening flight. She really went above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you Christine!! read more

What a delight to find a gem of a bookstore in an airport terminal. Complete with staff reviews too, which is what stopped me in my tracks and convinced me to make a purchase. A genuine, thoughtful, and rich selection. read more

Thankfully my flight made me leave or I would have spent all my money on their fabulous greeting cards! I didn't look too much at the books, but what I did see was pretty impressive, especially for an airport bookseller. I like that Compass is independent, and I LOVE their greeting cards - so much fun to shop. read more

Chanced upon this neat bookstore at SFO when we flew Virgin Airlines, it was our first time at this terminal. We mostly browsed the kids section with my preschooler. The selection was extensive and they even had toy airplanes and a lot of aviation-themed children's books. This would be great for parents who were trying to get their kids interested or at ease with flying or traveling. The best part is all the books on sale and there were quite a few! We ended up bringing home a heavy bag of quality books at a fraction of market price. read more